- The federal government and the opposition have weighed in on today’s closure of Toyota’s Altona factory in Melbourne’s west that will leave up to 2600 people without jobs and mark the end of 54 years of the Japanese car-maker building vehicles in Australia.

- Today’s manufacturing shut-down comes two-and-a-half weeks before GM Holden closes its assembly line in Elizabeth, South Australia, effectively bringing to an end to vehicle mass production in Australia.